Alva Review-Courier -

The Alva Robotics's team Technic Gold participated in the Frontier BEST Robotics Competition in Fort Smith, Arkansas, on Dec. 1-2. Thirty-five teams came from Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri to participate.

The team experienced two thrilling, stressful and tiring days that included a marketing presentation, an exhibit presentation, an engineering notebook judging and the actual robotic competition.

At the end of the competition, the 16 members of Technic Gold placed 13th out of the 35 teams competing. Many of the teams they were up against were much larger and had older students with coaches who have had more than a decade of experience with the BEST competition. Several of the judges who spoke to the team expressed surprise that Technic Gold, a team with younger members and only two years of experience, was so successful.

The team came away from the competition thrilled that their robot did not break down on the field as so many others did and pleased with their ratings in the marketing and exhibit presentations. They also had opportunities to show good sportsmanship during the competition when they helped two other teams repair their robots by lending tools and parts. Frontier BEST was a great experience that they hope to repeat next year. Once again, they want to thank everyone who made this season possible with their generous contributions of time, money, and support.

Alva Robotics will resume meeting in January at the Alva Public Library when they will discuss next year's game: "Current Events."